Bad Credit
by Artificial Wings 39
Summary: Sasuke works at a small cafe. LoveHates it. One snowy day, a blond shows up and causes Sasuke some internal problems. SasuNaru. First chapter revisited. Tis better.
1. On the Street

**Author: Artificial Wings 39 (or better yet, ****Ren**** is great). **

**Pairing: Sasuke x Naruto (there may be more, but I really don't know at this point. XP) **

**Rating: T (for language, and **_**maybe**_** future scenes)**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO (although, I did just recent acquire the pillowcase. XD It makes me happy) **

**This is yet again, another high school ****fic****. They are just so easy and really fun to write. XD I'm hoping mine can be somewhat original. I had to say that it's a high school ****fic****. Just in case I didn't make it clear in the story****thing****... Enjoy. **

**RAWR! REVISED! I FOUND I DIDN'T LIKE A FEW THINGS IN HERE SO I CHANGED IT AND MADE IT BETTER! WOOOOO! REVISION!**

_**Bad Credit **_

Sasuke tightened his scarf around his neck. The cold, biting wind blowing harder as he walked down the street. The snow on the sidewalk was turning into slush from the footsteps and getting all over his shoes and black dress pants. Looking down, he sighed at his numb feet, and then shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat, hoping that it would somehow help. He knew that wouldn't do anything, but thought it was better to keep his hands there, anyway. He picked up his pace the best he could while being so cold. He pulled himself into his coat more, as the wind blew icy snow toward him. He shuddered and, looking at his surrounding, realized where he was and made a sharp left. Sasuke entered a small cafe and looked around. He wiped his soaked shoes on the rough rug, and continued further into the store.

"Sasuke! You're late!" a blond haired girl shouted from behind the counter. She stood with her arms, flat palmed, on the counter. Her soft blue eyes, narrowed in the boys direction. Her blond hair pulled into her signature four ponytails. She wore a black apron with a sky blue button up top, and black slacks. "Now, hurry up," she ordered.

"Yeah, yeah," the dark haired boy said. He started to unbutton his coat as opened the door to the back. Quickly stuffing his coat in his locker, he grabbed his apron and put it on. Sighing, and keeping a solemn face, stepped through the door, behind the counter, where he was met with a death glare.

"So why are you so late?" she asked. Her voice wasn't kind. Well, it shouldn't be, since Sasuke was a half hour late.

"Well, I wasn't about to drive here," he bit back at her. "So I had to walk. It takes a while." He wasn't going to tell her the truth: that he over slept and didn't feel like hurrying to get to work. But what he said about not wanting to drive is true. Who, in the right mind, would want to drive when there's three inches of snow on the road?

"Humph, not good enough. You're lucky I don't feel like doing paperwork, otherwise I'd write you up." Sasuke rolled his eyes behind the blonde's back.

"Whatever, Temari-_san_," Sasuke muttered under his breath. She turned slightly towards him and glared, then changed expressions quickly enough and greeted a waiting customer. Sasuke knew she was mad, but wasn't in a good enough mood to try and change that. Sometimes when he knew that it was his fault, he'd try and make it better. But today, he was in a bad mood himself, and didn't feel like acting. He looked about for something to do; some busy work. Finding nothing, he decided on just, what Temari called it, "standing there and looking like a fucktard." He must have done that a lot because whenever any other employee does it, Temari shouts, "You look just like that fucktard, Sasuke!"

Heh, some boss she is.

Sasuke heard Temari thank the customer for coming in, and hoped they had a wonderful day. He noticed she was about to step closer to him and say something to him, until the bell on the door rang. A few words could be heard between customers, then the sound of the door closing.

"Hi there!" Temari greeted from behind the counter, something they we forced to do. Sasuke, wanting to find something interesting, looked up at the guest. Sasuke studied the newcomer. He had blond spiked hair, bright blue eyes, and tan skin. He was wearing light blue jeans that were soaked at the bottom from the snow, and a deep green water proof coat. He had a black scarf wrapped tightly around his neck, and had his hands stuffed in his pockets. The blond seems to be in his teens, still in high school, about the same age as him. Sasuke found he was mildly interested in this guy. Before Temari could do anything else, Sasuke stepped closer to the front counter.

"What can I get for you?" He said in a monotone voice. What? No matter what he did, his voice just couldn't hold excitement. No matter how hard he tried. He stepped up to the counter. The blonde's face was flushed from the cold. He smiled and put a hand behind his head.

"I was wondering if you happened to be hiring. You know, if I could have an application?" Sasuke stood with his blank, emotionless expression, staring back at the blond haired boy. The boy chuckled, nervously, and shifted his feet under Sasuke's stare.

"Sure," Sasuke said. Temari stood with her hands on her hips, watching the scene play out. Sasuke, trying to move his eyes _away_ from the boy, felt around underneath the register for an application. Temari made a choking noise, which made Sasuke give her a look. Rolling his eyes away from the girl, he started to pay attention to getting the paper. When it was finally retrieved, Sasuke slammed it on the counter top and slid it over to the boy.

The boy chuckled again and asked for a pen, and also a tall French vanilla cappuccino with two shots of caramel. Sasuke had to admit the kid knew what to drink. Temari whipped up the drink as Sasuke started to ring it up. In the middle of the transaction, he stopped and voided it. The blond boy gave him a look, in which Sasuke just said, unsmiling, "On the house."

The blond smiled at Sasuke as he pushed a pen, the application, and the drink over towards the other side of the counter. He loosened his scarf before taking the items into his hand. Blushing, he muttered a thanks, and hurried off to a nearby table. Sasuke didn't notice he was watching the other boy take a seat with his back towards Temari and himself, until someone cleared their throat rather loudly. Sasuke swiveled his glare to the older girl.

"You know you're paying for that right?"

"Hn," hereplied. Sasuke did the transaction over, and when the drawer opened, he pulled out his own wallet andthrew the necessary three dollars into the register. When he looked back up he noticed the otherblondturned slightly, watching him. Sasuke could feel his face heat upjust a little bit. He slammed the drawer closed and turned to look at Temari. She had her hands on her hips, in an authoritative position.

"You know, I should just fire you and hire this kid," she said quietly, but sternly. "He might make a better employee."

"Tsk," Sasuke's noise didn't make it to Temari's ears. Sasuke's face was still red. Why it was red, Sasuke didn't know. The look the other student gave him made him nervous. It made him second guess things.

And yes, Temari could fire him on the spot if she wanted to, and she had a lot of reasons to do so. But both of them knew she wouldn't.

Sasuke attracted a lot of customers to her small cafe. All the girls that stalked Sasuke knew where he worked, and would come and visit. Well, be extremely annoying, if you asked Sasuke. They would buy a cookie, or a drink, just so that they could say that they had talked to Sasuke. Sasuke would shake his head in a disapproving manner at this. They didn't _talk_ to him. They were just there. Ordering a coffee like the 73 year old man that came in every day to order the same thing: a venti decafcoffee.

Sasuke liked his job. He was usually good at his job. That is, unless he was having a bad day. Which he was. Threatening to get fired usually impliesthat he'sdoing badly. He wasn't reallythough. Both he and Temari seemed to be in bad moods andneither one felt like working. The place was going to be dead anyways. Looking out the front windows, Sasuke noted how much snow was falling;it didn't look like it was going to end anytime soon.

Sasuke wondered why the blond decided to do this today. Why today of all days, when he could be at home, warm and still in bed. He watched the blond stop in his writing and ponders something on the application. He stuck the pen under his top lip and looked up at the ceiling in wonder. Sasuke seemed totally entranced by this boy.

"Sasuke!" Temari's sharp voice broke him out of his staring. He quickly averted his eyes, and narrowed them at the girl.

"What?" he snapped back at her. So far, this day was bad, and the blond boy was the only thing keepingthedark boyfrom walking out of the cafe. He wondered exactly why that was. He didn't know this boy; they just looked to be about the same age. There was something from this kid that you could tell just from looking at him that he was someone that you wanted to know. It must have been his aura.

"Are you just gonna stand there looking like a fucktard or go outside and do what I asked you to?"

"Huh?" Sasuke didn't usually bring himself down to the level of a retard, but he totally missed what his boss was talking about.

"Shoveling the snow, that's what! Now get to work!" She shouted. Sasuke didn't grumble or anything, even though he really wanted to. He grabbed his coat and scarf and took his merry time putting them on. He rummaged through a closet that was rarely used and found the snow shovel. As Sasuke went out from behind the counter, he stole a quick glance at the blond boy. His face was all screwed up in concentration. Filling out an application wasn't that difficult, Sasuke thought. _Is this__ kid a little slow or something?_ Sasuke thought, letting a confused expression slide onto his face. He shook his head and opened the cafe door, allowing a rush of cold wind enter the store.

An angry "Sasuke!" could be heard through the gush, but Sasuke ignored it

Sasuke wondered if the blond haired kid really wanted to work here with such a crazy boss. Usually Temari would have watched her mouth or what she was yelling if someone wanted to apply. The cafe needed workers, so she was usually extremely nice towards everyone, and didn't yell unless they were in the back or no one was in the cafe. She must have been in a _really_ bad mood that day.

The dark haired boy started shoveling the snow. He didn't want to be outside in the cold. His thoughts started to wander. He began thinking about the new school year approaching. His mind shuddered at the thought, and quickly tried to think of something else. Fangirls were, and always will be, his worst nightmare. They did nothing good for him, and never would. He also realized that he wouldn't be able to work nearly as much, and therefore, the much needed currency wouldn't be as easy to come by.

He threw a shovel full of snow over his shoulder. He heard a slight shout come from behind him, and turned around. With wide eyes, he stared as he turned to see the blond boy from the cafe, snow covering his coat, his hair, his face.

Sasuke wasn't one for apologizing, or speaking much at all, so he just didn't say anything. He just stood there in shock instead.

The blond just shook his head, and wiped the snow from his face and most of his coat. While Sasuke stood there with disbelief, the blond just looked up at him and smiled.

"Haha! Sorry about that!" The blond laughed. He scratched the back of his head, and continued to laugh. Sasuke's jaw slackened slightly. "I'm fine really!" He said.

"..." Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but it took him a moment to actually form words. "I throw snow on you, and you _apologize?"_ Sasuke couldn't believe it. For some reason, he just thought that this was all extremely silly.

He chuckled again. "Well, I know that you didn't mean to do it. It wasn't on purpose, right?" His smile not fading at all.

"Tsk. Of course it wasn't on purpose. I didn't even hear you come out of the store," the raven felt his face heat up. He was glad that his face was already red because of the weather. The blonds' smile widened.

"See! Nothing to worry about," the other boy seemed to think that Sasuke was, indeed, worried that he had thrown snow on the kid. Sasuke wasn't really all that worried about it. He was more or less shocked that someone could actually sneak up behind him. The blond took the hand that was behind his head and pushed out to the dark-haired boy. "Uzumaki Naruto." he introduced himself.

Sasuke glared at the impending object in front of him like it was the crusty stuff that formed on the latte machine when it wasn't cleaned in a while. Finally, Sasuke took his hand off the shovel and placed it in the others. "Uchiha Sasuke."

The blond jolted slightly at the name, but quickly regained him composure. He didn't do it fast enough for the Uchiha to miss. Sasuke pulled his eyebrows together and wondered about it. "Uchiha Sasuke, huh? Nice to meet you!"

"Likewise, Uzumaki-kun." Sasuke pulled his hand back and put it back to its original place on the shovel.

"No need to be formal!" Uzumaki shouted, his voice level literally rising. "Naruto is fine."

"Likewise." Sasuke, no longer interested. This Naruto character was like no one else he had ever met. He was annoyingly bright and happy, but it was also calming, and comforting.

"Well then Sasuke. I'd better get going. I don't want to be the reason your boss unleashes her wrath on you!" He chuckled. Sasuke couldn't help but let a small, barely noticeable, smile creep onto his face.

"Not like it matters anyways," he said, letting the smile fade a little bit. "She would yell at me regardless," he shrugged. The blond gave a small smile. "Oh well," Sasuke shrugged again. Naruto's smile became really wide.

"Ah, well," the blond face seemed a bit more flushed than before, "I still should get going. I'll see you again, soon, ne?" Sasuke nodded, more enthusiastically than he wanted to. His face felt heated, and the brightness radiating off the other was making him feel rather warm. Sasuke felt a slight tingle when the blond flashed him another dashing smile, then shuffled past him. "See ya!" Naruto waved with his back turned to Sasuke. The now extremely flustered boy turned around just in time to see the wave, then the other stuff his hand into his pocket. He heard the blond cough loudly a few times and continued trudging on.

_He must be sick... _Sasuke thought as he continued staring after the boy. _Why is he out on a day like this, really? Is this the only time to do job searching? He has such blond hair, that slightly odd around here. I wonder if he's a foreigner..._ Sasuke didn't realize that his mind was completely stuck on the blond. Sasuke tried to think of another time of seeing him; nothing came to mind. Naruto seemed to be about the same age as Sasuke. _Is Naruto new around here, is that why he needs a job? Does he live by himself?_ Sasuke finally got back to shoveling the snow, his mind still racing about his encounter. It didn't even occur to him that he was thinking an awful lot about the boy he had just met. Sasuke liked the way the boy seemed to always be smiling. His aura was bright and cheerful, making everything around warm and happy.

Sasuke stopped mid-shovel and took a gloved hand and slapped it against his forehead. _Oh great! Now I can't stop thinking about him! What the hell is this?_

Irritated now, the raven boy did his best to not think about the blond that invaded his mind so quickly. He shoveled the snow in a hurry, wanting to get out of the cold. Without entirely realizing it, he would occasionally look towards the direction the blond headed in, just to see if he was coming back.

_Wow,_ Sasuke thought bitterly, _20 minutes near the guy and I already have a crush on him. __Heh__, I wonder if he gets that a __lot._

Finished working, the teen shook off his clothing and tapped his shoes, trying to rid of the snow, and headed back into the cafe. He completely ignored Temari. She could have been screaming at him all she wanted, but Sasuke wouldn't have heard a word of it. He didn't bother hiding the small smile that slithered its way onto his face. He was off in his own world.

_Uzumaki Naruto, I can't wait until we meet again._

Sasuke would have had no idea that Naruto was, indeed, hoping that they would meet again soon.

_And maybe even work together_, both of them thought.

Sasuke let a full smile appear on his face as he took off his coat and gloves and hung them.

Naruto pumped a fist in the air and made a triumphant cheer.

_This could be fun..._ Temari thought to herself as she peered into the back room, seeing Sasuke smiling widely and daydreaming into the coat closet.

**Dumb, I know. I'm trying though! ****TT.**** I've ****been wanting**** to write a ****SasuNaru****fic**** for forever! I have a general idea of where this is going. ****But...**** I don't know... I never know. DX. Things seem to be moving really fast with the crushes and the blushing and the ****funness****, but if I decide to continue this... it'll be cool, I hope. XD. ****So****...yeah.**

**Reviews are nice. Feedback is wonderful. I love it. Tell me if you think it's worth continuing. I really need something to write, and I'm running out of ideas. ****And whatnot.**

**Tootles.**


	2. Games

**Okay, I promised that would have this up about a month ago and that didn't happen. **

**And now I feel really bad because not only is it late, but it's also super crappy. But I needed to post something. I was starting to lose it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Nope. I don't.**

**Oh yeah. It jumps around a lot. And I hate it, but I'm terrible at transition whatnot. I apologize.**

**But enjoy as much as you can.**

* * *

"Good news, Sasuke," a red head approached the raven boy behind the counter. Sasuke had been lounging with his back against the counter when his co-worker, and friend, Gaara, come up to him with his face blank of any emotion, dressed in the traditional apron, his arms crossed over his chest. Sasuke looked out around the cafe. There was one person in the entire store, just a younger woman with her laptop, typing away, being the public writer she is.(1) Sasuke then turned back to his only friend and stared at him, face blank, but with one delicate eyebrow raised. 

"And what could that possibly be?" Sasuke asked Gaara.

Gaara just stared at him. He cocked his head slightly to the left and narrowed his eyes, not in a mean way, towards the other. "Temari decided to hire someone new," his voice didn't raise in any sort of excitement nor did it lower in disappointment. Sasuke, though not entirely wanting to do this in front of Gaara, got excited,and didn't bother trying to covercolor rising in his face.

"Did she say who it was?" Sasuke asked, still trying to keep his mask. He moved from his position on the counter to face Gaara better. Gaara smirked, internally, at Sasuke's reaction. He expected this when Temari told him what happened.

"It'll probably be some Naruharu... Naru..." Gaara unfolded his arms and stuffed them in his pockets. He honestly couldn't think of the boy's name, but he knew it was the name Sasuke wanted to hear.

"Naruto," Sasuke corrected for him. Gaara nodded.

"Yeah, that kid. She said he seemed like a promising guy."

Sasuke was, needless to say, excited. He hadn't seen the blond guy since they first met, two weeks ago,and he just couldn't get the other out of his head. The dark haired boy wanted nothing more than to work with the kid. Sasuke did what he could to cover up his excitement, but, unfortunately, didn't have any luck covering the blush now adorning his cheeks. "Did he have an interview?"

"Yeah, I think it was right before you came in. He has blond hair right? Kind of unusual for around here," Gaara said, taking his left hand out of his pocket to examine his pointer and middle finger nails.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but kept his poker face, "Like you have room to talk, red-head," Sasuke deadpanned. Gaara resisted the urge to look up at his own blood red locks, instead, he just shrugged.

"So is he a foreigner or what? Do you know?" Gaara asked, still sounding bored. He quit inspecting his nails, then crossed his arms and leaned on the counter with his back to the rest of the cafe. Sasuke looked out the window. The snow had let up significantly, but it still hadn't stopped, thus, causing Sasuke to walk to work, and be late most of the time.

Even though Sasuke really wanted to talk about the blond boy, he didn't want to talk about him with Gaara. Sure, him and Gaara were great friends, but there was something there that he didn't really want to talk about. "So you excited about the break being over soon?" Gaara raise one barely noticeable eyebrow. Gaara knew it wasn't like the dark haired boy to change the subject often. Gaara shrugged, then answered:

"No, not really. Soon the new school year will start," Gaara looked at the ground, then let his eyes look through his bangs at the other. Sasuke wore a dark expression. The red head already knew why he wore that face. This would start their last high school year, then, after graduation, everything would be different for the raven. "I don't know. I'd just rather be making money then going to school," the red head grabbed some coffee beans and stuck then in a grinder. Sasuke smirked at him, but the smirk held a tint of sadness to it.

"You know you'd rather be going to school, and getting an education than working here the rest of your life. You know sooner or later you'd end up a bum because Temari cut you off." Gaara was Temari's younger brother. Kankuro is the middle child. He refused to work with Temari, seeings how they fight a lot It's not like they didn't get along, they just tended to argue a lot. Gaara needed a job, but thanks to him being extremely anti-social, could never land himself a job. Any time Gaara does anything wrong, Temari threatens to fire him. Temari takes care of him since their parents past away, or disappeared, which ever one really happened.

Gaara took the grounded coffee beans and stuck them in a coffee maker. He poured the water in and let the coffee maker do its thing. He turned his back to the maker to his original position with his back to the seating area. Sasuke sighed and crossed his arms, leaning against the counter.

"And yes, I think he might be a foreigner. Although, his Japanese is quite good," Sasuke commented, bringing back the former subject. He wanted to talk about the blond, but at the same time, didn't want to at all. He knew Gaara didn't like having his questions unanswered, but he didn't want to voice what his thoughts were on the blond.

When thinking about that day, Sasuke rememberedthat boy sniffed at the sound of his surname. Sasuke wondered what it was. But that would mean he'd have to talk to blond about it, and that wasn't something he wanted to do. Yes, Sasuke family had power in Japan, but it wasn't anything to fear.

"Blond hair and blue eyes; You think he's American?" Gaara asked, shifting his eyes to check the coffee pot behind him.

Sasuke shrugged, "That's a possibility. I wonder why he's here then?" Sasuke moved his gaze to the other. Gaara stood with his arms crossed, eyes closed, and head pointed down. His left ankle was crossed over his right, and his toes pointed. The boys khaki pants wrinkled, his black dress shirt and black apron smudged with coffee stains and batter. Gaara had flaming red hair and his eyes circle with heavy black eyeliner. Gaara wasn't a "goth kid," he just thought the black brought out his pale green eyes out better.

"An exchange program? Family in the military? I don't know, there are many different reasons as to why he could be over here. Maybe when he starts working here, we'll get to know him better... or whatever." To Sasuke, it seemed that Gaara was looking forward to another student being around to work.

Excitement pounding even harder in his chest, Sasuke genuinely smiled, "Yeah..."

(x) (X) (x)

A few days had passed since his and Gaara's chat. Sasuke tugged lightly at his school bag. Adorned in his black school uniform, and with his black messenger bag slungon his shoulder, he walked onto the school grounds. The first day back after break was always the worst. Sasuke suppressed a yawn, and pushed his glasses higher on his nose. He was too tired to put his contacts in that morning, so instead, he wore his black framed glasses.

Sasuke heard his name called in a small voice. He turned to see a short girl, with short black hair, slightly spiked in the back. The girl was hiding half of herself behind a nearby tree, and staring at him with piercing eyes. Sasuke raised his hand in a greeting, and worked his way over to the girl."Ohayo, Hinata-chan. Neji," The usual greeting, between the few friends. Neji, leaning against the tree with his arms folded, just nodded in the general direction of the boy.Sasukejust aboutslammed his back against the tree and did his best to slide down it, until he was sitting on the still moist grass. This time, he didn't suppress his yawn. Gaara eventually joined them, and together, they walked into the school just when the bell was about to ring.

Neji and Hinata took the lead to their homeroom. That was the only way thefour, and maybe a few random people,of them have come to know each other. They were all fairly quiet, and all stuck in the far right corner of their room and therefore, had no choice but to talk to each other. Gaara was the one that gave Sasuke his job.

Sasuke didn't have a lot of friends, just those three, but that didn't mean he wasn't popular at school. He had a huge hoard of fangirls that followed him everywhere. Both Gaara and Neji had a posse as well, but Neji's only came close compared to his. But not all that close.

When they finally reached their homeroom,they stared at the closed door.Sasuke let out a sigh, and Gaara patted him on the shoulder.

"Such a pain," Sasuke mumbled.

Neji slid open the door to room 2-E, and was shoved out of the way in a flash of black, pink, and white. Hinata squealed and jumped out of the way just before the flash had knocked her over. Gaara crossed his arms and kept a strong hold on his position shoulder to shoulder with Sasuke. Gaara glared at the oncoming blurr, while Sasuke just hung his head in annoyance.

"Ohayo, Sasuke-kun!" two sicklysweet voices rang in unison. The bodies latched themselves onto Sasuke's arms. He groaned at the feeling of their weight against him. And, despite his efforts, Gaara was knocked out of the way and stumbled. Thanks to the blurr of pink. Sasuke twitched but the girls still held on.

"Ohayo, Sakura-san, Ino-san," Hinata said politely. Her politeness went unnoted as the blond and the pink haired girls just clung to the raven boy. Sasukeput on his solid blank expression and walked through the doors, while the two annoyances continued to cling to him.

Soon enough, the usual morning routine would begin. The two girls would ask Sasuke about his night, and ask him what he did, and when he didn't respond, the two of them would just talk endlessly about themselves. The two girls would talk, and talk, and talk, until they finally started to shout over each other, and when they couldn't get any louder, they would shut up for a second, then start arguing with themselves. When they initiated the shouting and arguing, it would give Sasuke the perfect chance to slip away, unnoticed.

When finally given that opportunity, Sasuke slipped in the back of the room where his friends had already settled.

"I hate that," Sasuke groaned.

"We know," Gaara stated. "You say that everyday." Sasuke sent a glare toward Gaara who just ignored it. Gaara looked at Neji, who in turned looked at Hinata, (why they were suddenly looking at each other is even beyond the author!) and Hinata stuttered out, "S-so, how was everyone's break?" She blushed, and tapped her pointer fingers together. A nervous habit she has, and will probably never get rid of.

Neji shrugged; not really interested in telling about his vacation. Well, he did only sit in his basement and play video games or read. Gaara shrugged as well, leaving an indifferent expression. Sasuke just glared at his desk, not really caring. Hinata, starting to get a little flustered, went to say something but was broken off by Gaara.

"Oh, yeah. Something exciting did happen," He drawled out. _Oh shit_, Sasuke thought, and hurriedly turned hisgaze towards the red-head. Sasuke saw the glint in his eye, and went to speak when Gaara closed his eyes and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Sasuke. I'll tell them your good news."

Although they were all friends, and all knew about Sasuke, well, not liking girls, he still didn't like talking about it openly.

"Sasuke met someone."

Neji finally looked up from staring at his lap, and Hinata's blush deepened.

"R-really, Sasuke-kun?" She said happily. A bright smile was visible on her pale face. Sasuke sighed, and damned Gaara mentally.

"Well, _kind of_. He came into the cafe while I was working and asked for an application. Gaara here says he had an interview," Sasuke said, not looking at them. He didn't want them to notice his blush. _Damn this feeling, stupid blushing, stupid emotions... Stupid Naruto... how dare he be stuck in my head?_ Sasuke cursed.

"So, that doesn't explain much," Neji started. "Are you going to tell us more? Or do we have to force it out of you?" Neji said calmly. Sasuke growled lightly; he was angry as hell. _Damn you, Gaara!_

"Whatever," Sasuke hesitated, but when he got a look from Neji, he continued."Anyways, he filled out an application, Temari ordered me to go outside and shovel the sidewalk, for whatever reason, and when I wasn't paying attention, I threw snow over my shoulder and it landed all over him." At this, Neji snorted, but tried to cover it up with a cough. Sasuke glared at him through his bangs. "We just talked,okay? I haven't seen him since then."

"Ah! So that would explain why you are PMSing. I get it," Gaara said in his smooth voice. Sasuke's face heated up even more. Hinata, noticing that Sasuke was reaching his limit, tried to take the spotlight off of Sasuke.

"So, uh, G-Gaara, what did you do all break? I didn't get to see you," She said quickly. Gaara tore his eyes off of Sasuke and softened his gaze on Hinata.

Gaara did a one shoulder shrug, "I didn't do much. I worked occasionally. Stared at my ceiling a lot."

"So what did this boy look like?" Neji asked, wanting to continued the former conversation. He really just felt like being a jerk to Sasuke, he knew he'd pay for it later. But, he was a friend, I did want to make sure his friends were doing well.

"He looked American. Blond hair, blue eyes, big goofy grin. He seemed really nice," Gaara said for Sasuke.

"Wait, American? Does he speak Japanese?"

Both Gaara and Sasuke nodded.

"Wow, Sasuke. Sounds like you've got a good catch," Neji said truthfully.

Finally, Sasuke looked up. His entire face was bright red, against his own will, of course, and a glare conjoined with it. Hinata covered her mouth, so her gasp would be heard. Neji and Gaara both chuckled.

"Okay, okay," Neji waved a hand in front of the raven. "We'll quit bothering you."

"For now at least. He's going to start working at the cafe soon." Was Gaara's input.

Sasuke's glare turned into a wide eyed stare between the two of them. Naruto was going to start working with them? _NO!_ Sasuke's mind shouted. The look on both Gaara's and Neji's faces were saying the same thing.

Let the games begin, boys.

(x) (X) (x)

Later that same day, Sasuke was in his car, driving himself to work. The weather had finally cleared up enough where he could drive and not have to fear for his life when doing so. He was wearing dark jeans and a navy blue polo. His apron was sitting in the passengers seat. He was currently switching radio stations and finally stopped at a station playing Nightmare. When he settled back into his seat, he heard his phone start vibrating. Cursing, and trying to keep his eyes on the road, he reached over his apron where his cell phone was located and searched for it. He grabbed it, flipped it open and in a rushed voice said, "Moshi moshi?"

"Sasuke," a cool voice sounded.

"Yes, Itachi?" Sasuke said in an annoyed voice. His older brother was not someone he wanted a phone call from. Ever.

"On you on your way to work yet?"

"Yeah, you almost made me crash. I was thinking it might have been someone important, or even worth talking to." _Ouch._ But Sasuke didn't care. At that moment, he was angry with his older brother.

"Yeah, yeah I get it," Itachi said. "But listen, I needed to tell you that I'm not going to be home for a while."

"Oh man, what a surprise," Sasuke's voice coated with sarcasm. Sasuke could tell that his brother was getting fed up with his attitude and finished up their conversation.

"I'll be home infive days. There's food around. Money is where it always is."

"Whatever. Bye." Sasuke closed his phone. Itachi was the first to hang up that time. Sasuke and his brother didn't get along all too well. It wasn't that they hated each other. Itachi was never home. It didn't matter to Sasuke where he went, so he never asked. But when Itachi did come home, he would try to act like Sasuke's parent, instead of a brother, which would just thoroughly piss off Sasuke. Itachi did try to make things bearable between the two, but nothing he did helped; just made things worse. They just couldn't connect with each other, they never could talk to each other.

Barely looking where he was going, Sasuke pulled in a parking lot behind the cafe. He parked crooked in a space. He didn't care anymore. He was angry now. He grabbed up his apron, and threw open his door. He quickly stuffed his keys in his pocket, without locking his car, and headed into the cafe. Sasuke stormed into the back room.

A soft, "Sasuke?" could be heard from the young girl behind the counter. Sasuke ignored her for the moment though. He paced about the back room. He wanted to calm down. Even he didn't understand why his brother made him so upset. Itachi was just one of those things that would constantly be there to ruin his day.

"Oi, Sasuke! Are you alright?" the girls voice came through the doors, and again, Sasuke just ignored her. _Get over it Sasuke, _he thought to himself. _It's not a big deal._ Sighing heavily, Sasuke put on his blank mask, and began to put on his apron.

"Sasuke, if you don't come out here in 10 seconds I'm gonna- " the girl started but was cut off as Sasuke pushed through the swinging that lead behind the counter.

"I'm fine," he said as he finished up the tie in the back of his apron.

"Are you sure?" she asked. The girl wasn't satisfied with his answer, which only made the raven more annoyed.

"Ten-Ten, I'm fine. Stop worrying," Sasuke was close to snapping at her. _Calm down, _he thought. He liked Ten-Ten, and didn't want to upset her in anyway.

"But, your aura, it's not telling me that!" Ten-Ten's mood suddenly changed from super worried, to playful. She raised her voice at the end of her statement to emphasize that she wasn't gonna let him go at "just fine."

"Ten-Ten..." He started, but didn't finish. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming there.

"Sasuke-kun..." She stretched out his name. She looked up at him with wide, playful eyes, knowing that this was his breaking point.

Sasuke sighed loudly, and dropped his hand from his face, his eyes closed. "It's just Itachi." Ten-Ten nodded, but didn't say anything. Even though Ten-Ten was barely in his circle of friends, she still knew quite a bit abouthim. Too much, if you asked Sasuke. Ten-Ten went to a different school than him. Sasuke had already been working there when she applied. At first, like all other girls, she had a crush on him. But soon just went to friends, finding that being friends with the raven was a lot better than trying to capture his love that would never be for her.

They became really good friends when she found out the Sasuke is gay.

The brown haired girl just smiled at Sasuke. Trying not to lethis lousy mood stay there for long. He opened his eyes, and quirked an eyebrow at her smile.

"What?" he asked, monotone voice back. Her smile widened.

"Nothing. Just trying to make you feel better."

Sasuke furrowed his brow. "You're trying to make me feel better by standing there, smiling at me like a creep, and invading my personal space?" The sarcasm was there, it just couldn't be heard. Ten-Ten laughed at his "joke." She abruptly stopped and acquired a reminded expression.

"Did you hear about the new hire?!" she asked enthusiastically. Sasuke rolled his eyes, although he didn't mean to, and nodded.

"Yeah. I know about him. I'm the one who handed him the application," he panned. No longer caring for the subject.

"Oh my God!" She squealed. "He's dreamy, isn't he?!" Her eyes grew a bit starry, and her checks turned red. But, as soon as those eyes appeared they disappeared. "He may be dreamy, but he sure can be a numbskull sometimes."

Sasuke just kind of stared at her. Why was it that everyone knew of Naruto? How come everyone saw him except Sasuke; who's probably the only reason that Naruto got hired.

_DAMNIT_, it finally hit Sasuke as to why this is happening.

_Damn you Temari!_

_You planned all this!_

"Sasuke? You suddenly got a scary face... Is everything alright? Do you dislike the new kid?" Ten-Ten looked up at him thoughtfully. Sasuke shook his head, his eyes unfocused thanks to the realization that his boss was torturing him. She could tell by the way he acted that first day he saw him that Sasuke liked him. Or, more or less, what he saw.

Her plan was to keep them as far apart as possible.

"No," he bit out. "It's..."

"Excuse me, um, Ten-Ten-san?" a soft voice came from the counter. Ten-Ten quickly turned around and gasped in glee.

"Naruto-kun!"

* * *

**(1) My friend always tells me I need to take my laptop to a cafe or something and write that way I will be a writer because I wrote in public. I don't quite get it, but she says it to me anytime I say "I REALLY need to work on my chapter." Meh. **

**Alright, so this chapter was absolute POOP! I know.**

**And I know it took me FOREVER to POOP out a STUPID chapter.**

**I'll go revisit this chapter later... when I have more time. Right now is a crazy time for me. -sad face- I just wish everything would stop bothering me so I could write!!! But I'm hoping that the next chapter won't take nearly as long to post as this one did. I actually have ideas for the next chapter and whatnot. Woot. Alright.**

**Tootles. **


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